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JAPANESE  TAIRV  TUE~  SERIES,  Jlk  11. 


GRIFFITH  FARRAN  &  Co., LONDON  ^  SYDNEY, 


THE  HARE  OF  INABA. 


there  were 
once  eighty-one 
brothers,  who  were  Princes 
in  the  land.  They  were  all  jealous 
of  one  another,  each  one  wishing  to 
be  King,  to  rule  over  the  others, 
and  over  the  whole  Kingdom. 
Besides  this,  each  one  wanted  to 
marry  the  same  Princess.  She  was 
the  Princess  of  Yakami  in  Inaba. 
At  last  they  made  up  their  minds 


that  they  would  go  together  to  Ina. 
ba,  and  each  one  try  to  persuade  the 
Princess  to  marry  him.  Although 
eighty  of  these  brothers  were  jealous 
of  one  another,  yet  they  all  agreed 
m  hating,  and  being  unkind  to  the 
eighty-first,  who  was  good  and  gen- 
tle, and  did  not  like  their  rough,  quar- 
relsome ways.  When  they  set  out 
upon  their  journey,  they  made  the 
poor  eighty-first  brother  walk  behind 
them,  and  carry  the  bag,  just  as  if 
he  had  been  their  servant,  although 
he  was  their  own  brother,  and  as 
much  a  Prince  as  any  of  them  all. 


Brand  by,  the  eighty  Princes 
came  to  Cape  Keta,  and  there  they 
found  a  poor  hare,  with  all  his  fur 
plucked  out,  lying  down  very  sick 
and  miserable.  The  eighty  Princes 
said  to  the  hare, 

"We    wili    tell    you    what   you 
should    do. 


Go  and  bathe  in  the  sea  water,  and 
then  lie  down 


on  the  slope  of  a  high  mountain, 
and  let  the  wind  blow  upon  you. 
That  will  soon  make  your  fur  grow, 
we  promise  you." 

So  the  poor  hare  believed  them, 


and  went  and  bathed  in  the  sea,  and 
afterwards  lay  down  in  the  sun  and 
the  wind  to  dry.  But,  as  the  salt 
water  dried,  the  skin  of  his  body  all 
cracked  and  split  with  the  sun  and 
the  wind,  so  that  he  was  in  terrible 
pain,  and  lay  there  crying,  in  a  much 
worse  state  than  he  was  before. 

Now  the  eighty-first  brother  was 
a  long  way  behind  the  others, 
because  he  had  the  luggage  to 
carry,  but  at  last  he  came  up, 
staggering  under  the  weight  of  the 
heavy  bag.  When  he  saw  the  hare 
he  asked, 


"  Why  are  you 
lying  there  crying?" 
14 Oh  dear!"  said 
the  hare, 


w  just  stop  a  moment  and  I  will  tell 
you  all  my  story.  I  was  in  the 
island  of  Oki,  and  I  wanted  to  cross 
over  to  this  land.  I  didn't  know 
how  to  get  over,  but  at  last  I  hit 
upon  a  plan.  I  said  to  the  sea 
crocodiles, 


"  Let  us  count  how  many  croco- 
diles there  are  in  the  sea,  and  how 
many  hares  there  are  in  the  land. 
And  now  to  begin  with  the  croco- 
diles. Come,  every  one  of  you,  and 
lie  down  in  a  row,  across  from  this 
island  to  Cape  Keta,  then  I  will 
step  upon  each  one,  and  count  you 
as  I  run  across.  When  I  have 
finished  counting  you,  we  ca-n 
count  the  hares,  and  then  we  shall 
know  whether  there  are  most  hares, 
or  most  crocodiles. " 

The  crocodiles  came  and  lay 
down  in  a  row.  Then  I  stepped  on 


them  and  counted  them  as  I  ran 
across,  and  was  just  going  to  jump 
on  shore,  when  I  laughed  and  said, 
"Yon  silly  crocodiles,  I  don't  care 
how  many  of  you  there  are.  I  only 
wanted  a  bridge  to  get  across  by/'' 
Oh!  why  did  I  boast  until  I  was 
safe  on  dry  land?  For  the  lust 
crocodile,  the  one  which  lay  at  the 
very  end  of  the  row,  seized  me,  am 


plucked  off  all  my  fur " 
"And  serve  you  right  too,  for  being  so 
tricky,"  said  the  eighty-first  brother; 
«  however,  go  on  with  your  story/' 
"As  I  was  lying  here  crying," 


continued  the  hare,  "the  eighty  Prin- 
ces who  went  by  before  you,  told  me 
to  bathe  in  salt  water,  and  lie  down  in 
the  wind.  I  did  as  they  told  me,  but 
I  am  ten  times  worse  than  before,  and 
my  whole  body is  smarting  and  sore." 
Then  the  eighty-first  brother  said 
to  the  hare,  "  Go  quickly  now  to 
the  river,  it  is  quite  near.  Wash 
yourself  well  with  the  fresh  water, 
then  take  the  pollen  of  the  sedges 
growing  on  the  river  bank,  spread 
it  about  on  the  ground,  and  roll 
among  it ;  if  you  do  this,  your  skin 
will  heal}  and  your  fur  grow  again.1' 


So  the  hare 
did  as  he 
was  told; 


and  this  time  he  was  quite  cured, 
and  his  fur  grew  thicker  than  ever. 
Then  the  hare  said  to  the  eighty- 
first  brother,  "As  for  those  eighty 
Princes,  your  brothers, 
they  shall  not  get 
the   Princess 
of  Inaba. 
Although  you 
carry 
> 
the 


?>7et 
Highness  shall  at  last  get 

both  the  princess  and  the  country." 


Which  things  came  to  pass,  for  the 
Princess  would  have  nothing  to 
do  with  those  eighty  bad  brothers, 
but  chose  the  eighty-first  who  was 
kind  and  good.  Then  he  was 
made  King  of  the  country,  and 
lived  happily 
all  his 
life.